One in ten Portuguese students feels alone at school, but the vast majority say they make friends easily, reveals an international study that shows that the Portuguese are happier than the OECD average.
This is one of the results of the 2022 International Student Assessment Program (PISA) report, in which around 690 15-year-old students from 81 countries and economies participated, including almost seven thousand young people from 224 Portuguese schools.
In addition to the Mathematics, Reading and Science tests, in which students performed worse than their colleagues who took them in 2018, PISA researchers also wanted to know what life was like for these young people in schools.
In 2022, 76% of Portuguese students said they made friends easily at school, in line with the OECD average (76%), but many more Portuguese students said they had a feeling of belonging to the school community (82 % Portuguese compared to 75% in the OECD).
On the other hand, one in ten 15-year-old students in Portugal revealed that they felt alone and another 11% admitted that they were left out, reveals the OECD study released today.
Although the numbers reveal a worrying reality, they are well below the average for OECD schools: 16% of 15-year-olds feel alone and 17% say they are left out.
The situation in Portugal is very similar to that experienced in 2018, when the previous PISA survey was carried out, contrary to the trend in the OECD, which shows that there are fewer and fewer young people happy with their lives.
In 2022, 12% of Portuguese students said they were dissatisfied with their life, that is, on a scale of 0 to 10, they were between zero and 4.
In 2018, the percentage of dissatisfied young Portuguese was exactly the same (12%). Among all OECD students, the percentage has been increasing, from 11% in 2015 to 16% in 2018 and to 18% in 2022.
Regarding insecurity, 5% of students in Portuguese schools said they did not feel safe on the way to school (the OECD average is 8%) and 4% even reported feeling insecure inside the school classrooms (the OECD average is 7%).
Another 5% reported feelings of insecurity elsewhere in the school (the OECD average is 10%).
In Portugal, around 15% of 15-year-old girls and 13% of boys of the same age reported having been victims of bullying at least a few times a month, values that are slightly below the average for OECD countries (20 % of girls and 21% of boys).
On average across OECD countries, students exposed to bullying decreased between 2018 and 2022: Only 7% of students reported that other students spread unpleasant rumors about them in 2022, compared to 11% in 2018.
Also in Portugal, this type of aggression fell from 7% in 2018 to 6% in 2022.
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